The Silverlight browser plug-in allows you to see Smooth Streaming in action on this page. (If Silverlight is not installed, please install it when prompted.) If the Internet bandwidth and video rendering capability on your playback device are sufficiently high, you’ll experience high-definition video playback of the sample content. You will also be able to simulate end user experiences under varying conditions by simulating drops and recoveries in bandwidth. If your actual bandwidth is below 3 Mbps, or your playback device is video-challenged, then you will experience the adaptive nature of Smooth Streaming without needing to simulate a bandwidth cap.

My guess is that this is the tech (or similar) that will be incorporated into Xbox LIVE’s 1080p streaming feature.

Well, if you are one of those gamers who likes to fix their system without voiding their warranty, it goes here:

Repair Center

5700 S International Parkway Door 18

Mcallen TX 78503

What would I see? Rows and rows of Xbox 360s lined up in an assembly line with a bunch of people in cool white suits cracking them open in an assembly line?

The truth of it was not nearly that cool. The journey was a bit of a letdown in the end. I wasn’t allowed past the security desk, but I was able to ask some questions. It turns out that the place where Xboxes go is nothing more than a distribution center about five miles from the Texas/Mexico border (the Rio Grande River).

Your Microsoft consoles go here, and are then shipped somewhere in Mexico. I also recently found out that this is where your Seagate hard drives go, whether or not those are shipped to the same repair facility from here I don’t know.

In a chat with Japanese magazine Dengeki, Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima explained that he would be more deeply involved in Rising than previously let on to believe.

“I’ll be working more deeply on the project then a normal producer…It’s a completely different kind of action than what has appeared in the series so far.”

Kojima also said that he would be in charge of development of the PSP title, Peace Walker, because he felt that the game’s themes may be a bit of a challenge for his young development team to tackle. That said, Kojima has full confidence in his team as developers, but felt that some of the history associated with the themes of the game may be difficult for them because of the generation gap.

“At first, I was just going to create the overall guidelines and concepts for the project, and leave it in the hands my excellent staff,” said the MGS creator, “I was going to have a hand in the project as a producer, and make titles other than MGS.”

“But, I set the game in the South American [sic] country of Costa Rica and created a story with themes about nuclear deterrence and The Cold War. It looked as if it might be very confusing to young people, because of generational differences. So, in the end I finally said, ‘I’ll do it.'”